reStructuredText Test Document Examples of Syntax Constructs
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David Goodger
123 Example Street Example, EX Canada A1B 2C3
goodger@python.org Me Myself I humankind Now, or yesterday. Or maybe even before yesterday. This is a "work in progress" is managed by a version control system. 1 This document has been placed in the public domain. You may do with it as you wish. You may copy, modify, redistribute, reattribute, sell, buy, rent, lease, destroy, or improve it, quote it at length, excerpt, incorporate, collate, fold, staple, or mutilate it, or do anything else to it that your or anyone else's heart desires. field name This is a "generic bibliographic field". field name "2" Generic bibliographic fields may contain multiple body elements. Like this.
Dedication For Docutils users & co-developers. Abstract This is a test document, containing at least one example of each reStructuredText construct. This is a comment. Note how any initial comments are moved by transforms to after the document title, subtitle, and docinfo. Above is the document title, and below is the subtitle. They are transformed from section titles after parsing. bibliographic fields (which also require a transform): \pagebreak[4] % start ToC on new page Table of Contents 1   Structural Elements 1.1   Section Title 1.2   Empty Section 1.3   Transitions 2   Body Elements 2.1   Paragraphs 2.1.1   Inline Markup 2.2   Bullet Lists 2.3   Enumerated Lists 2.4   Definition Lists 2.5   Field Lists 2.6   Option Lists 2.7   Literal Blocks 2.8   Line Blocks 2.9   Block Quotes 2.10   Doctest Blocks 2.11   Footnotes 2.12   Citations 2.13   Targets 2.13.1   Duplicate Target Names 2.13.2   Duplicate Target Names 2.14   Directives 2.14.1   Document Parts 2.14.2   Images and Figures 2.14.3   Admonitions 2.14.4   Topics, Sidebars, and Rubrics 2.14.5   Target Footnotes 2.14.6   Replacement Text 2.14.7   Compound Paragraph 2.14.8   Parsed Literal Blocks 2.14.9   Code 2.15   Substitution Definitions 2.16   Comments 2.17   Raw text 2.18   Container 2.19   Colspanning tables 2.20   Rowspanning tables 2.21   Complex tables 2.22   List Tables 3   Error Handling
<generated classes="sectnum">1   </generated>Structural Elements
<generated classes="sectnum">1.1   </generated>Section Title Section Subtitle Lone subsections are converted to a section subtitle by a transform activated with the --section-subtitles command line option or the sectsubtitle-xform configuration value.
<generated classes="sectnum">1.2   </generated>Empty Section
<generated classes="sectnum">1.3   </generated>Transitions Here's a transition: It divides the section. Transitions may also occur between sections:
<generated classes="sectnum">2   </generated>Body Elements
<generated classes="sectnum">2.1   </generated>Paragraphs A paragraph.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.1.1   </generated>Inline Markup Paragraphs contain text and may contain inline markup: emphasis, strong emphasis, inline literals, standalone hyperlinks (http://www.python.org), external hyperlinks (Python 5), internal cross-references (example), external hyperlinks with embedded URIs (Python web site), anonymous hyperlink references 5 (a second reference 7), footnote references (manually numbered 1, anonymous auto-numbered 3, labeled auto-numbered 2, or symbolic *), citation references (CIT2002), substitution references (EXAMPLE), and inline hyperlink targets (see Targets below for a reference back to here). Character-level inline markup is also possible (although exceedingly ugly!) in reStructuredText. Problems are indicated by |problematic| text (generated by processing errors; this one is intentional). Here is a reference to the doctitle and the subtitle. The default role for interpreted text is Title Reference. Here are some explicit interpreted text roles: a PEP reference (PEP 287); an RFC reference (RFC 2822); an abbreviation (abb.), an acronym (reST), code (print "hello world"); a subscript; a superscript and explicit roles for Docutils' standard inline markup. DO NOT RE-WRAP THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH! Let's test wrapping and whitespace significance in inline literals: This is an example of --inline-literal --text, --including some-- strangely--hyphenated-words. Adjust-the-width-of-your-browser-window to see how the text is wrapped. -- ---- -------- Now note the spacing between the words of this sentence (words should be grouped in pairs). If the --pep-references option was supplied, there should be a live link to PEP 258 here.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.2   </generated>Bullet Lists A bullet list Nested bullet list. Nested item 2. Item 2. Paragraph 2 of item 2. Nested bullet list. Nested item 2. Third level. Item 2. Nested item 3. This nested list should be compacted by the HTML writer. Even if this item contains a target and a comment.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.3   </generated>Enumerated Lists Arabic numerals. lower alpha) (lower roman) upper alpha. upper roman) Lists that don't start at 1: Three Four Enumerated list start value not ordinal-1: "3" (ordinal 3) C D Enumerated list start value not ordinal-1: "C" (ordinal 3) iii iv Enumerated list start value not ordinal-1: "iii" (ordinal 3)
<generated classes="sectnum">2.4   </generated>Definition Lists Term Definition Term classifier Definition paragraph 1. Definition paragraph 2. Term Definition Term classifier one classifier two Definition
<generated classes="sectnum">2.5   </generated>Field Lists what Field lists map field names to field bodies, like database records. They are often part of an extension syntax. They are an unambiguous variant of RFC 2822 fields. how arg1 arg2 The field marker is a colon, the field name, and a colon. The field body may contain one or more body elements, indented relative to the field marker. credits This paragraph has the credits class set. (This is actually not about credits but just for ensuring that the class attribute doesn't get stripped away.)
<generated classes="sectnum">2.6   </generated>Option Lists For listing command-line options: command-line option "a" options can have arguments and long descriptions options can be long also long options can also have arguments The description can also start on the next line. The description may contain multiple body elements, regardless of where it starts. Multiple options are an "option group". Commonly-seen: short & long options. Multiple options with arguments. DOS/VMS-style options too There must be at least two spaces between the option and the description.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.7   </generated>Literal Blocks Literal blocks are indicated with a double-colon ("::") at the end of the preceding paragraph (over there -->). They can be indented: if literal_block: text = 'is left as-is' spaces_and_linebreaks = 'are preserved' markup_processing = None Or they can be quoted without indentation: >> Great idea! > > Why didn't I think of that?
<generated classes="sectnum">2.8   </generated>Line Blocks This section tests line blocks. Line blocks are body elements which consist of lines and other line blocks. Nested line blocks cause indentation. This is a line block. It ends with a blank line. New lines begin with a vertical bar ("|"). Line breaks and initial indent are significant, and preserved. Continuation lines are also possible. A long line that is intended to wrap should begin with a space in place of the vertical bar. The left edge of a continuation line need not be aligned with the left edge of the text above it. This is a second line block. Blank lines are permitted internally, but they must begin with a "|". Another line block, surrounded by paragraphs: And it's no good waiting by the window It's no good waiting for the sun Please believe me, the things you dream of They don't fall in the lap of no-one Take it away, Eric the Orchestra Leader! A one, two, a one two three four Half a bee, philosophically, must, ipso facto, half not be. But half the bee has got to be, vis a vis its entity. D'you see? But can a bee be said to be or not to be an entire bee, when half the bee is not a bee, due to some ancient injury? Singing... A line block, like the following poem by Christian Morgenstern, can also be centre-aligned: Die Trichter Zwei Trichter wandeln durch die Nacht. Durch ihres Rumpfs verengten Schacht fließt weißes Mondlicht still und heiter auf   ihren Waldweg u. s. w.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.9   </generated>Block Quotes Block quotes consist of indented body elements: My theory by A. Elk. Brackets Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and belongs to me and I own it, and what it is too. Anne Elk (Miss) The language of a quote (like any other object) can be specified by a class attribute: ReStructuredText est un langage de balisage léger utilisé notamment dans la documentation du langage Python.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.10   </generated>Doctest Blocks >>> print 'Python-specific usage examples; begun with ">>>"' Python-specific usage examples; begun with ">>>" >>> print '(cut and pasted from interactive Python sessions)' (cut and pasted from interactive Python sessions)
<generated classes="sectnum">2.11   </generated>Footnotes A footnote contains body elements, consistently indented by at least 3 spaces. This is the footnote's second paragraph. Footnotes may be numbered, either manually (as in 1) or automatically using a "#"-prefixed label. This footnote has a label so it can be referred to from multiple places, both as a footnote reference (2) and as a hyperlink reference. This footnote is numbered automatically and anonymously using a label of "#" only. This is the second paragraph. And this is the third paragraph. Footnotes may also use symbols, specified with a "*" label. Here's a reference to the next footnote: . This footnote shows the next symbol in the sequence. Here's an unreferenced footnote, with a reference to a nonexistent footnote: [5]_.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.12   </generated>Citations Citations are text-labeled footnotes. They may be rendered separately and differently from footnotes. Here's a reference to the above, CIT2002, and a [nonexistent]_ citation.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.13   </generated>Targets This paragraph is pointed to by the explicit "example" target. A reference can be found under Inline Markup, above. Inline hyperlink targets are also possible. Section headers are implicit targets, referred to by name. See Targets, which is a subsection of Body Elements. Explicit external targets are interpolated into references such as "Python 5". Targets may be indirect and anonymous. Thus this phrase may also refer to the Targets section. Here's a `hyperlink reference without a target`_, which generates an error.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.13.1   </generated>Duplicate Target Names Duplicate names in section headers or other implicit targets will generate "info" (level-1) system messages. Duplicate names in explicit targets will generate "warning" (level-2) system messages.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.13.2   </generated>Duplicate Target Names Duplicate implicit target name: "duplicate target names". Since there are two "Duplicate Target Names" section headers, we cannot uniquely refer to either of them by name. If we try to (like this: `Duplicate Target Names`_), an error is generated.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14   </generated>Directives 2.14.1   Document Parts 2.14.2   Images and Figures 2.14.3   Admonitions 2.14.4   Topics, Sidebars, and Rubrics 2.14.5   Target Footnotes 2.14.6   Replacement Text 2.14.7   Compound Paragraph 2.14.8   Parsed Literal Blocks 2.14.9   Code These are just a sample of the many reStructuredText Directives. For others, please see http://docutils.sourceforge.net/docs/ref/rst/directives.html.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.1   </generated>Document Parts An example of the "contents" directive can be seen above this section (a local, untitled table of contents) and at the beginning of the document (a document-wide table of contents).
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.2   </generated>Images and Figures An image directive (also clickable -- a hyperlink reference): Image with multiple IDs: A centered image: A left-aligned image: This paragraph might flow around the image. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used. A right-aligned image: This paragraph might flow around the image. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used. For inline images see Substitution Definitions. Image size: An image 2 em wide: An image 2 em wide and 15 pixel high: An image occupying 50% of the line width: An image 2 cm high: A figure is an image with a caption and/or a legend. With page-based output media, figures might float to a different position if this helps the page layout.
reStructuredText, the markup syntax Plaintext markup syntax and parser system. re Revised, revisited, based on 're' module. Structured Structure-enhanced text, structuredtext. Text Well it is, isn't it?
This paragraph is also part of the legend.
A left-aligned figure:
reStructuredText, the markup syntax This is the caption. This is the legend. The legend may consist of several paragraphs.
This paragraph might flow around the figure. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used. A centered figure:
This is the caption. This is the legend. The legend may consist of several paragraphs.
This paragraph might flow around the figure. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used. A right-aligned figure:
This is the caption. This is the legend. The legend may consist of several paragraphs.
This paragraph might flow around the figure. The specific behavior depends upon the style sheet and the browser or rendering software used. Tables may be given titles and additional arguments with the table directive: left-aligned table A not A False True True False
center-aligned table A not A False True True False
right-aligned table A not A False True True False
With the "widths" argument "auto" (or "class" value "colwidths-auto"), column widths are determined by the backend (if supported by the writer/backend). A B A or B False False False True False True False True True True True True
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.3   </generated>Admonitions Directives at large. Don't take any wooden nickels. Mad scientist at work! Does not compute. It's bigger than a bread box. Wash behind your ears. Clean up your room. Call your mother. Back up your data. This is a note. 15% if the service is good. Strong prose may provoke extreme mental exertion. Reader discretion is strongly advised. And, by the way... You can make up your own admonition too.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.4   </generated>Topics, Sidebars, and Rubrics Sidebars are like miniature, parallel documents. Sidebar Title Optional Subtitle This is a sidebar. It is for text outside the flow of the main text. This is a rubric inside a sidebar Sidebars often appear beside the main text with a border and a different background or font color. A topic is like a block quote with a title, or a self-contained section with no subsections. Topic Title This is a topic. A rubric is like an informal heading that doesn't correspond to the document's structure. It is typically highlighted in red (hence the name). This is a rubric Topics and rubrics can be used at places where a section title is not allowed (e.g. inside a directive).
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.5   </generated>Target Footnotes http://www.python.org/ http://pygments.org/ http://docutils.sourceforge.net/
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.6   </generated>Replacement Text I recommend you try Python, the best language around 5. Python, the best language around
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.7   </generated>Compound Paragraph The compound directive is used to create a "compound paragraph", which is a single logical paragraph containing multiple physical body elements. For example: The 'rm' command is very dangerous. If you are logged in as root and enter cd / rm -rf * you will erase the entire contents of your file system. Test the handling and display of compound paragraphs: Compound 2, paragraph 1, compound 2, paragraph 2, list item 1, list item 2, compound 2, paragraph 3. Compound 3, only consisting of one paragraph. Compound 4. This one starts with a literal block. Compound 4, paragraph following the literal block. Now something really perverted -- a nested compound block. This is just to test that it works at all; the results don't have to be meaningful. Compound 5, block 1 (a paragraph). Compound 6 is block 2 in compound 5. Compound 6, another paragraph. Compound 5, block 3 (a paragraph). Compound 7, tests the inclusion of various block-level elements in one logical paragraph. First a table, Left cell, first paragraph. Left cell, second paragraph. Middle cell, consisting of exactly one paragraph. Right cell. Paragraph 2. Paragraph 3.
followed by a paragraph. This physical paragraph is actually a continuation of the paragraph before the table. It is followed by a quote and an enumerated list, a paragraph, option list, a paragraph, a field list, a paragraph, a definition list, a paragraph, an image: a paragraph, a line block, a paragraph followed by a comment, this is a comment a paragraph, a with content and the final paragraph of the compound 7.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.8   </generated>Parsed Literal Blocks This is a parsed literal block. This line is indented. The next line is blank. Inline markup is supported, e.g. emphasis, strong, literal text, sub- and superscripts, inline formulas: A = 2 \pi r^2, footnotes 1, hyperlink targets, and references.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.14.9   </generated>Code Blocks of source code can be set with the code directive. If the code language is specified, the content is parsed and tagged by the Pygments 6 syntax highlighter and can be formatted with a style sheet. (Code parsing is turned off using the syntax-highlight config setting in the test conversions in order to get identical results with/without installed Pygments highlighter.) print 'This is Python code.' The :number-lines: option (with optional start value) generates line numbers: 8 # print integers from 0 to 9: 9 for i in range(10): 10 print i For inline code snippets, there is the code role, which can be used directly (the code will not be parsed/tagged, as the language is not known) or as base for special code roles, e.g. the LaTeX code in the next paragraph. Docutils uses LaTeX syntax for math directives and roles: \alpha = f(x) prints \alpha = f(x). The :code: option of the include directive sets the included content as a code block, here the rst file header_footer.txt with line numbers: 1 .. header:: Document header 2 .. footer:: Document footer
<generated classes="sectnum">2.15   </generated>Substitution Definitions An inline image (EXAMPLE) example: EXAMPLE (Substitution definitions are not visible in the HTML source.)
<generated classes="sectnum">2.16   </generated>Comments Here's one: Comments begin with two dots and a space. Anything may follow, except for the syntax of footnotes, hyperlink targets, directives, or substitution definitions. Double-dashes -- "--" -- must be escaped somehow in HTML output. Comments may contain non-ASCII characters: ä ö ü æ ø å (View the HTML source to see the comment.)
<generated classes="sectnum">2.17   </generated>Raw text This does not necessarily look nice, because there may be missing white space. It's just there to freeze the behavior. A test. Second test. Another test with myclass set. This is the fourth test with myrawroleclass set. Fifth test in HTML.<br />Line two. Fifth test in LaTeX.\\Line two.
<generated classes="sectnum">2.18   </generated>Container paragraph 1 paragraph 2
<generated classes="sectnum">2.19   </generated>Colspanning tables This table has a cell spanning two columns: Inputs Output A B A or B False False False True False True False True True True True True
<generated classes="sectnum">2.20   </generated>Rowspanning tables Here's a table with cells spanning several rows: Header row, column 1 (header rows optional) Header 2 Header 3 body row 1, column 1 column 2 column 3 body row 2 Cells may span rows. Another rowspanning cell. body row 3
<generated classes="sectnum">2.21   </generated>Complex tables Here's a complex table, which should test all features. Header row, column 1 (header rows optional) Header 2 Header 3 Header 4 body row 1, column 1 column 2 column 3 column 4 body row 2 Cells may span columns. body row 3 Cells may span rows. Paragraph. Table cells contain body elements. body row 4 body row 5 Cells may also be empty: -->
<generated classes="sectnum">2.22   </generated>List Tables Here's a list table exercising all features: list table with integral header Treat Quantity Description Albatross 2.99 On a stick! Crunchy Frog 1.49 If we took the bones out, it wouldn't be crunchy, now would it? Gannet Ripple 1.99 On a stick!
center aligned list table Albatross 2.99 Crunchy Frog 1.49 Gannet Ripple 1.99
<generated classes="sectnum">3   </generated>Error Handling Any errors caught during processing will generate system messages. There should be five messages in the following, auto-generated section, "Docutils System Messages": section should be added by Docutils automatically
Docutils System Messages Undefined substitution referenced: "problematic". Unknown target name: "5". Unknown target name: "nonexistent". Unknown target name: "hyperlink reference without a target". Duplicate target name, cannot be used as a unique reference: "duplicate target names". Hyperlink target "target" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "another-target" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "image-target-1" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "image-target-2" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "image-target-3" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "target1" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "target2" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "docutils" is not referenced. Hyperlink target "hyperlink targets" is not referenced.